NCEA problems set off alarms

On the eve of thousands of students getting their exam results, the Qualifications Authority has uncovered problems with several entire secondary school subjects.

Karen Sewell, acting head of the authority, said that for the first time "issues relating to whole subjects have been identified".

Preliminary analysis of results has revealed problems in technology, accounting, and agricultural and horticultural science but students who sat those exams will not be disadvantaged, Ms Sewell said yesterday.

She said the results were inconsistent across all three levels of those three subjects.

"Some standards may be set at the wrong level and therefore be too hard or too easy for students to achieve."

However, she said students could be confident the results accurately reflected their performance in exams.

NZQA has held talks with the Ministry of Education about the concerns and intends to meet education sector groups. Talks would cover whether some standards should be internally assessed, rather than externally, and whether more professional development for teachers was needed.

Ms Sewell said results in the core subjects - English, maths and science - were "consistent and what we expected".

Last year's results were blighted by controversy after marks varied wildly from previous years and between subjects. This year's papers have been subjected to the highest level of checking and double-checking to date.

"We have been open and transparent about our processes, and we have talked publicly about any issues that have arisen," Ms Sewell said.

Almost 2 million papers have been marked, and Ms Sewell said preliminary findings showed the success rate was as expected in the majority of standards. In technology, accounting and agricultural and horticultural sciences, the general picture "does not look too bad, but satisfactory is not good enough", she said.

National's education spokesman, Bill English, said that despite the improvement, there was still a long way to go before every student received "fair and valid assessment".

However, the Post-Primary Teachers Association said the re-marking and monitoring process was helping to identify areas that needed fine-tuning.

Teachers had put their "heart and soul" into NCEA, said PPTA president Debbie Te Whaiti, and they could not be allowed to collapse under the weight of assessment.

"We need to use assessment for teaching and learning rather than having assessment determine what is taught and learned."


NCEA: Who passed

* More than 144,000 students sat exams last November and December. About 95 per cent will receive their results in this morning's post.
* Results will be available online from mid-afternoon at the NZQA website.